Google Gemini 3.8 Flash and Meta Muse Spark 1.3 Debut With Sharp Pricing Differences

Google released Gemini 3.8 Flash on September 2, 2026, its third updated Flash model in six weeks, priced at $0.75 per million input tokens and $3.75 per million output tokens as an introductory rate that doubles from January 1, 2027. Alongside it, Google launched Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber, a vulnerability-detection variant scoring 86.2% on CyberGym, available only to vetted security researchers through its Fairwind Program. Hours later, Meta released Muse Spark 1.3 at $1.25 input and $4.25 output per million tokens, with a drastically cheaper contributor tier at $0.10 and $0.20 if users allow Meta to train on their data. On the independent DeepSWE benchmark, Gemini 3.8 Flash matched Claude Opus 5 at 74% accuracy but at roughly one-fifth the cost per task, though it achieved this by using significantly more steps and output tokens. The upcoming price doubling has drawn criticism, with observers noting users will eventually pay frontier-level rates for a model that may no longer be state-of-the-art.
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